Convertible hobby horse



1964 s. GOLDFARB 6 17.

CONVERTIBLE HOBBY HORSE Filed Jan. 31, 1963 INVENTOR.

STANLEY 0oz lam/as BY MJ-M United States Patent 3,151,417 CONVERTIBLE HOBBY HQRSE Stanley Goldfarb, 98 Havilands Lane, White Plains, NlY. Filed Jan. 31, 1963, Ser. No. 255,344 1 Claim. {l. 280-11) This invention relates to childrens hobby horses and in particular to a novel hob-by horse which is convertible for use as a rocking horse.

An important object of the invention is to provide a childs hobby horse which, in addition to being provided with wheels, has a pair of rocker elements which are attachable to the wheels when it is desired to use the hobby horse as a rocking horse.

A further object of the invention is to provide a childs hobby horse and rocker which is of sturdy yet light construction.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a hobby horse of simple construction, which may be easily converted by a child to a rocker horse and back to a wheel toy horse, without any assistance by an adult.

Gther objects and a fuller understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the following description and claim taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

It should be understood, however, that these are given by way of illustration and not of limitation, and that various changes in the details, form and arrangement of the parts may be made Without departing from the scope of the invention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the hobby horse on wheels, 7

FIG. 2 is a partial side elevational view of the hobby horse with the rocker elements secured thereto,

FIG. 3 is a cross-section taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 2,

FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective detail view of the socket lock for the rocker elements and FIG. 5 is an enlarged detail view of the lock catch.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, there is shown in FIG. 1 the hobby horse, generally indicated by the numeral 10, comprising a molded rear section 12 anda molded front section 14. Both sections are preferably molded of a suitable plastic material and include a hollow part 16 and 18 respectively. The hollow part 16 is provided with aligned pivot holes 26 in which are received a pair of pivot posts 22 integral with the front section 14. A handle bar 24 extends laterally through the front section 14. Each of the sections is formed with legs 26 through which extend axles 28 for Wheels 30 which are rotatably mounted on the form by means of holes 32 in the hub portions 34. The wheels include laterally extending rim portions 36 and are adapted to be received in rocker elements 38 as shown in FIGS. 24.

The rocker elements 38 comprise stops 40, to prevent the hobby horse from toppling over when used as a rocker, and are formed as a bottom flange 42, a top flange 44 and a vertical Web 45. The webs 45 of each of the rocker elements are formed with openings defined by top wall portions 48, bottom wall toe portions 58 and sloping flanges 56 extending transversely from the web 45 as shown in FIG. 4. Vertical resilient plate elements 50 are integrally secured to the flanges S6 and form with the latter sockets for receiving wheels 30. Locking means generally indicated as 46 for securing the rocker elements to the wheels are provided at each end of the former. The locking means include resilient tabs 52 extending from the plate elements 5% and integral therewith. Each of the tabs 52 is formed with a lock element 54 which engages with any of the rim portions 36 when a wheel is inserted into one of the corresponding sockets and pushed downwardly until it contacts flanges 64 extending from wall portions 58 beyond the lock element 54, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. The vertical bottom wall toe portions 58 are formed with lateral spurs or catches 62 which are adapted to additionally engage the outer portions 66 or" the wheel 30. The flanges 64 serve to prevent further downward vertical movement of wheels 30, while the vertical bottom wall toe portions 53 prevent the lateral displacement of the wheels.

When it is desired to use the toy as a rocking horse the wheels are pushed into the sockets of the rocker elements as shown in FIGS. 24 until they engage with the sockets in the manner described above. To use the toy as a wheel hobby horse, the rocker elements are removed by pressing the tabs 52 laterally away from wheels 30 and sliding the latter out of the sockets.

The invention having thus been described, what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent of the United States of Americais:

A convertible hobby horse comprising, in combination, amolded front section and a molded rear section pivotable on said front section, each of said sections being formed with a pair of legs, a first pair of wheels rotatably secured to one of the legs of the front section and one of the legs of the rear sections, a second pair of wheels rotatably secured to the other of the legs of the front section and the other of the legs of the rear section, said wheels having laterally extending rim portions; a pair of arcuate rockers provided with wheel receptacles for detachably securing said wheels; each of said rockers comprising a vertical web and horizontal top and bottom flanges integral therewith; each of said wheel receptacles comprising a pair of spaced, downwardly converging flanges exending laterally of said web; a vertically disposed resilient plate connecting said flanges, said plate being parallelly spaced from said web and having a bottom edge portion spaced from said rockers bottom flange, a catch element extending laterally of said plate part way toward said web, for engaging the rim portion of a respective wheel, a tab extending downwardly of said plates bottom edge'portion for disengaging said catch, a pair of wheel support elements extending laterally of said web adjacent said bottom fiange, a pair of projections extending from said Web inwardly of said receptacle in a plane above said catch, said projections and said catch cooperating to look a wheel rim therebetween, the top flange of said rocker having a pair of spaced cutout portions aligned with said receptacles to permit the passage of a respective wheel therethrough.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 594,311 11/97 Yehle 280-13 1,154,991 9/15 Johnson 280--l3 1,478,449 12/23 Meis-ter 297133 X 1,733,774 10/29 Brye 280-13 2,490,410 12/49 Brown 280-1.203 2,504,000 4/50 Coleman 2801.203 X 25621419 2/53 Lindenbein 280-1.203

A. HARRY LEVY, Primary Examiner. 

